The Dance
by WoodBruh09
Summary: The Valentine's Day Dance is coming up tonight at PS 118. This is the major chance for Helga to finally tell Arnold how she feels about him.


**The Dance**

It was a typical Friday morning at PS 118; bells ringing for the first period classes; students roaming the hallways trying hard not to go to class; and the anticipation to leave bombarding the whole school. Today was a special day, even more special than Mr. Simmons giving his class a free day.

"Good morning, class. I have very exciting news to share with you today." Mr. Simmons began. "Tonight is a special night as it is the Valentine's Day Dance."

The whole class erupted in cheery voices. This was the first time in a long time to where a bunch of forth graders could have a good night of dancing and drinking punch. Meanwhile, Helga, sitting on the right of the room, was staring at Arnold daydreaming about him.

"Oh, Arnold. Your soft, shinny cornflower hair entices me. Your kindness and humbleness woos me. Oh, how I could have all of those qualities by my side at all times holding me and loving me. You make my heat warm inside. If only I could tell you how much I feel, my sweet Arnold." she thought to herself.

The classroom was slowly getting quieter and more settled down as Mr. Simmons was raising both of his hands in front of the whole class trying to get them to calm down. Arnold decided to look behind him out of suspicion to see Helga in a loving daze staring at him. Helga snapped back to reality while noticing Arnold giving an O.K. sign with his fingers.

"What do you want, football head?" she whispered angrily.

"Ugh, nothing." he groaned rolling his eyes.

Arnold turned back around to face the front to listen to Mr. Simmons' lecture about the Civil War and the impact it had for the second time this week. The class went on for about an hour with some small breaks between before the lunch bell rang for everyone to go to lunch at around 12:30. Today was Taco Friday which made everyone scramble out the door rushing to the lunchroom to get their hands on some delicious tacos. Helga went towards the far right of the room with Phoebe sitting to the left of her.

"Criminey, what is wrong with me, Phoebe?" Helga asked sadly.

"What do you mean, Helga?"

"I don't know. It's like every time I see that football head, I either call him names or yell out stupid things to him for no apparent reason. I don't even know how to even tell him how I feel, Phoebe."

Phoebe sat in silence in the moment thinking about a solution to her problem. Then it came to her.

"What about inviting Arnold to the Valentine's Day Dance tonight so you can talk to him privately about your feelings for him?" Phoebe suggested.

"Arnold going to the dance with me? Like that is ever going to happen." she denied to herself.

Helga slouched at her seat with her mind battling wether to ask Arnold to the dance or not. The lunch bell rang again to release the forth graders to recess. Eugene and Harold grabbed the basketballs from the storage room and brought it outside for the basketball game that Gerald and Arnold were hosting. Helga ran off behind the trashcans that rested beside the bench. She pulled out her locket and held it against her chest.

"Oh, Arnold, my beloved. How my heart beats for your ever-loving soul and my lungs breathing your fresh air when i'm near. As my affections for you grow stronger, my feelings for you glow bright. But only for tonight can I spill out my secrets of my love for you if only I had the guts to tell you how I feel."

The school bell rang once again for everyone to go back inside for the last two periods of the day. Mr. Simmons had taught History before lunch and was now moving onto Math for an hour and Science for another hour. All the time seemed to slip away as school ended for the day. Kids were boarding buses and cars to get home as quickly as possible. Helga sat down on the croon steps of the school with her hands rested on her cheeks. Arnold came out through the front doors and stood at the top of the stairs looking down at Helga.

"Hey, Helga." Arnold said.

"Hey, Arnoldo." Helga groaned.

"Your parents not picking you up again?"

"Yeah."

Helga's parents head been really lazy in picking her up in the past few days, even though she could walk home, but that would take too much effort for her.

"Well, if you want, I could walk you home." he offered.

"Sure, whatever. Just make it quick. I don't have all day, football head.

On their walk home, everything seemed so peaceful and enjoyable and more amazing than usual for walks, especially with Arnold. All Helga could think about was the Valentine's Day Dance and how lovely her walk hime is right now. Arnold walked Helga all around the neighborhood to kill some time and so he could collect his thoughts.

"Hey, Helga. I want to ask you something."

That sudden question took Helga out of her daydream and back into reality.

"What do you want, bucko?"

"Well, I was wondering if you would want to go to the Valentine's Day Dance with me tonight. You don't have to if you don't want to though."

"Wait, you asked me out of all the other girls in the school?"

"The other girls were already taken so quickly, so I decided to ask you since you didn't have a date."

Helga could feel her heart almost explode out of her chest in excitement. Arnold, out of everyone else, chose to ask her out to the dance. She could just scream, but she had to keep her cool.

"Oh, sure. I'll go to this dance with you, whatever." she said.

"Great. I'll see you around 7:00."

"See you then, Arnoldo."

As their conversation came to an end, the two arrived at Helga's house. Helga waved Arnold goodbye as he walked back to the direction of the boarding house. When she came inside, she looked at the clock above the doorway.

"Criminey! It's already 6:00 and I haven't even showered and put on a dress yet. Man, time does fly fast when you're having fun talking to the boy of your dreams."

Helga dashed upstairs to get ready for the dance. Her room smelled of cheap perfume and was scattered with dresses and shoes on the floor. After searching for something to wear, she found the perfect dress and shoes to match her long golden hair that hid behind her pigtails. Time seemed to be ticking faster and faster as her anticipation for the dance raced higher and higher. Thirty minutes zoomed by and the doorbell rang signaling Helga to go downstairs by the front door. She carefully made her way down the stairs and opened the door to reveal Arnold dressed in his tuxedo.

"Ready for the dance, Helga?"

"Yes, I am ready or the dance."

Arnold took Helga's hand and lead her down her front door steps. The two proceeded to walk a couple of blocks to the school.

"You look beautiful by the way, Helga." Arnold said suddenly.

Helga didn't respond. Instead, she gave a warm smile while glancing at Arnold, He knew he didn't have to say anything else as he just made her night. They arrived at the school with Mr. Simmons greeting everyone at the front doors. Arnold escorted Helga through the doors and into the gym where the dance was being held. Gerald and Phoebe were standing near the punch bowl laughing and talking. Arnold and Helga strolled towards Gerald and Phoebe.

"Hey, Arnold." Gerald greeted with his signature handshake.

"Hey, Gerald." Arnold replied. "I see you took Phoebe as your date."

"And I see you took..."

Gerald looked shockingly at Helga with a lot of confusion. He then grabbed Arnold by the arm and moved him away from Phoebe and Helga.

"You took Helga to the dance?" Gerald whispered.

"Yeah. I had no one to go with and she didn't either, so I decided to take her to the dance with me."

"Well, I wish you luck. You really need it, bro."

Arnold and Gerald walked back towards Phoebe and Helga.

"Criminey! Did we come here to just talk or did we come here to dance?" Helga complained.

The music started playing and everyone in the gym made their way towards the middle of the gym floor. A song from the 80s started off the night giving everyone the freedom to get funky. Gerald was busting out some of his best dance moves while Phoebe watched and laughed in enjoyment. Meanwhile, Arnold and Helga were near their best friends goofing off trying to dance in time with the rhythm with no success. Every song came with a new beat and new rhythm that pleased about everyone at the dance. The music began to slow down, people grabbed their dates, and started to slow dance.

"Oh, no! It's the slow dance!" Helga panicked.

Arnold turned to Helga and reached out his hand to her.

Would you like to dance with me?" Arnold asked.

"Uh, yes. I would like to dance with you." Helga nervously replied.

Arnold grabbed Helga by the waist while Helga wrapped her arms around Arnold's neck and swayed back and forth to the smooth sounds of the song. Both Arnold and Helga noticed that time began to slow down as they began to stare into each other's eyes.

"I'm having a great time with you, Helga." Arnold admitted.

"You are? I thought you would have a bad time with someone like me."

"Well, through your bullying and mean nature, you can be a cool girl to hangout with."

Helga's mind had gone blank. She never thought that Arnold would say anything like that to her, especially when he called her beautiful. she didn't know wether to be happy or really confused.

"Why do you always have to look on the bright side, Arnold?"

"Well, somebody has to." he replied. "I also want to ask you this out of curiosity."

"And what is that?"

"I want to know why you act mean towards me."

Helga couldn't think of how to answer his question. She knew the right and true answer, but din't want to risk spilling out her true feelings for him.

"Uh...I don't know what you're talking about."

"Helga!"

"Okay, fine. I'll tell you the truth." Helga said defeated. "I may bully you and pick on you day after day, but maybe I don't hate you as much as I thought, okay? Maybe you can say that I kind of like you a little bit."

"Funny, I can remember a similar conversation back at the FTI building when we were saving the city." Arnold mentioned.

Helga blushed at that memory of them at the top of the FTI building where she confessed her love for Arnold there. She never thought that he would remember that incident.

"I also remember something very special you gave to me at the top of that building that I should've gave back to you on that day."

"I did, what was that?"

"This."

Arnold pulled Helga closer to him making her blush like crazy. He then cupped her face, leaned in, and planted his lips on Helga's lips. Her body tensed up as she never expected anything like this to happen. The boy that she had been crushing on for years was finally kissing her. After a moment of realization, she finally gave into the kiss and started kissing him back. Gerald turned around to see the event unfold before him. He couldn't believe his eyes, but he was happy for his best friend. Arnold broke the kiss after a couple of minutes leaving Helga in a loving daze.

"Wait, so you actually like me?" Helga asked blushing.

"I've always liked you, Helga. Even when you bullied me or called me names or embarrassed me, I still liked you for who you still are today." Arnold admitted.

Helga hugged Arnold in a full loving embrace for her night had been fully successful. She could finally be happy with the boy she has loved throughout all of her life.


End file.
